Jewish Town - Through the history of the lost town

According to an old Jewish tradition the Prague Jewish Town was founded earlier than Christian Prague, even before the Christian era. The legend itself had a defensive purpose: in the first place it proved that Czech Jews had the right to live in this country and in the second it tried to assert that they were not the heirs of those Jews who crucified Christ.

Despite the fact that the above mentioned legend is obviously fanciful, the Jewish settlement in Prague has a very old tradition. Jewish merchants and money-lenders were probably already settling here in the 10th century. Reminders of this are the synagogue in the Lesser Town at Újezd and the settlement in the area of what was then called Vyšehrad road. In the 11th and 12th centuries the Jewish settlement concentrated in the area of today's Jungmannova, Lazarská and Vladislavova Streets in the New Town. Here the first Jewish Cemetery was founded prior to 1254 and abolished in 1478. This settlement gradually died out and the next centre started to develop from the middle of the 12th century around the Old and, later on also the New (the Old New) Synagogue which formed the core of the future Jewish Town.

Right from the beginning the distinctive character of the Jewish Town was established by being created from two geographically separate areas. The Jews who came first adhered to the eastern rites and they settled in the area around what they called the Old School, close to the Christian Church of the Holy Ghost. It separated them from the Jews who came later from the west, and who settled around the new synagogue, later known as Staronová (Old-New).

In the 13th century the development of the Jewish settlement stagnates for a long period. In 1234 the Prague Old Town was walled and included within the walls was the Jewish settlement. Forty years later the Jewish area was named V Židech, and not long after that had walls of its own. It acquired certain, limited powers of jurisdiction so that a genuine Jewish Town was established here, not a ghetto without rights, even though its privileges were never sufficient to defend itself against pogroms. Despite everything however the status of the Prague Jewish settlement was in its way unusual in the Middle Ages. The town had its own territory, schools, prisons for lesser offences, a court and later even a town hall.

From the 13th century onwards the private and economic life of the Jews was severely restricted compared to the past, when the Jews had almost the same status as Christian merchants. In 1215 the Pope's decree proclaimed that Jews were the prisoners, the slaves and the property of the sovereign. On the head of every Jew a tax was paid, called Jewish royalties, similar to those on mining or minting. Jews were allowed only one activity - trading in money. At the beginning they bore this only with difficulty because for them, as well as Christians, money lending was a dishonourable occupation. The increase of money by interest - as if “from nothing” - was considered a parody of God's creation and was therefore condemned. To signify that they lived by money lending the Jews had to wear a yellow star and a pointed hat with a ball. However this idea was not a Christian invention, because the first degrading identification of Jews had already been introduced in the 7th century by the Muslims.

Despite all the persecution, the Jews had a very significant economic role in the Middle Ages, because even then, life could not thrive without financial transactions. In 1254 King Přemysl Otakar II issued a law protecting the Jews, because the excessive persecution of them reduced tax royalties. With these laws he fought against the desecration of Jewish cemetries and against the slander, that Jews needed Christian blood for their rites. Regrettably these prejudices survived right up to the 20th century.

Charles IV confirmed these established Jewish privileges, but at Easter 1389 soon after his death, the town witnessed a huge pogrom. Even in the 19th century, in the Old-New Synagogue, walls splashed with the blood of the slaughtered, still used to be shown.

The Hussites attempted to sort out the Jewish problem in an interesting way. Jakoubek of Stříbro in a treatise “About Usury” asserts, that the source of hostility towards Jews by Christians is that Jews are not able to work like Christians. From this time onwards the inhabitants of the Jewish Town attempted to acquire knowledge of crafts and the right to join guilds, however they met resistance from Christian guilds and apart from the occasional exception, were unsuccessful in this until the middle of the 16th century.

The greatest prosperity enjoyed by the town was in the time of the Emperor Rudolf II. Thanks to the wealth of Mordechai Maisel and the wisdom of Rabbi Löw, new synagogues were built, crafts started to flourish and the fame of the Prague Talmudic School was constantly growing. At the same time however resentment by the Catholic church also increased. In 1561 a proclamation was issued, making it compulsory for Jews to attend Jesuit sermons weekly. Many refused, but many others attended out of fear, while blocking their ears with wax before the sermon. In 1694 a Jewish boy, Šimon Abeles, who had converted to Christianity, was murdered. The church used this opportunity for strong anti-Jewish propaganda. Abeles' father was accused of the murder and his corpse was dragged out beyond the Town gate, where his heart was ripped out and his body quartered. Transgressions by Jews, who in court did not have the same rights as Christians, were cruelly punished.

By the 17th century the houses did not stand detached anymore in the Jewish Town, but formed a continuous street line. Significant over population was happening despite the fact that until the middle of the 19th century, only the eldest son was allowed to marry and have children. In contrast to the Christian town, the grandest and richest houses were next to the walls, or even beyond the walls, and not in the centre of the ghetto, because in the vicinity of the Old Town was the most advantageous position for business. In 1689 the town burnt down, but was however rebuilt again. The danger of fire in a confined space continually increased, therefore the Jews had to be very good firefighters. They would help to put out fires even in the Christian town often without any expectation of reward, except for a glass of wine “and a bread roll”.

Hard times arrived during Maria Theresa's reign, who in 1744 ordered the expulsion of the Jews from Prague. Until 1749 the Town remained almost deserted and the Jews founded a new settlement in Libeň. Eventually however they were allowed to return.

In contrast Maria Theresa's son, the Emperor Josef II, was instrumental in reducing the inadequacy of legal protection for the Jews. He ended the use of the degrading yellow signs, permitted Jews entry into crafts, arts and sciences and allowed them to study at secondary schools and universities. Their prestige was increased greatly by the fact that they could enter the army. This was accompanied by the increasing Germanisation of the Jews, who until then had spoken largely Czech.

In the 19th century the over population of Josefov, as the town was called in honour of the Emperor Josef, greatly increased. Bad hygienic conditions together with poverty were reasons for a 40 per cent increase in the death rate. Rich Jews moved out and in their place arrived poor Christians. The former ghetto was becoming a place for the impoverished and criminal elements. Therefore on 11 February 1893 the sanitation law was proclaimed and over a 20 year period the whole Jewish settlement and a part of the Old Town were pulled down. In the place of 31 streets and 2 squares are nowadays 10 streets, and instead of 288 houses there are now only 83.

The issues of slum clearance are complicated. On one hand it was necessary to solve the unsatisfactory situation in Josefov, on the other hand Prague was cheated out of a unique corner full of history. Unfortunately, the picturesqueness of the old was not replaced by an imaginative, new aesthetics, as happened for instance in Paris or Vienna. The majority of the new houses are no doubt hygienic and convenient, but this redeveloped district of Prague did not materialise as the new, modern centre of town which had been intended. Even nowadays this part of the Old Town is melancholy. We feel that we are always on the edge of events. The Prague Jewish writer Franz Kafka expressed it in these words: “In us always live dark corners, mysterious lanes, blind windows, dirty yards, noisy pubs and disreputable taverns. We walk through the wide streets of the new town, but our steps and glances are uncertain.”

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